Greenville, MS – Prize Fight Boxing is proud to introduce the inaugural event of a ground breaking series on SportsSouth. “Melee In Mississippi” will kick off a monthly fight series on SportsSouth live from the beautiful Harlow’s Casino & Resort in Greenville, MS. This 5 bout card will feature some of the hottest prospects in the sport today. “This whole series is built around introducing tomorrow’s stars today”, said Brian Young of Prize Fight. “Through our wonderful relationship with FOX and Harlow’s Casino we are able kick off this series in a first class way”, Young continued.

The main event on the card will be a classic duel of two talented featherweights. Eric “The Outlaw” Hunter 12-1 (5 KO’s) of Philadelphia, PA will square off with Jose Hernandez 11-7 (5 KO’s) of Atlanta GA. Hunter, a 2004 United States Olympic Boxing Team Alternate and one of the hottest prospects in boxing, looks to continue his winning ways against the formidable Hernandez in this 8 round bout. Defeating Jose Hernandez will be no easy task for Hunter as Hernandez is well known as defeating hyped prospects. Four times previously in his career Hernandez has entered a fight as an underdog against an undefeated prospect and four times Hernandez as crushed the prospect’s dreams by coming a way with an upset victory. Most recently Hernandez faced 15-0 Rasheim Jefferson for the USBA Featherweight Title in Philadelphia, PA and stopped Jefferson in the 12th round of a scheduled 12 round bout with a crushing left hook.
The feature bout of the evening is an exciting female bout between in state rivals Britanny Glendenning 2-0 (1 KO) of Ft. Smith, AR and April Ward 5-1 (5 KO’s) of Batesville, AR. This 6 round Jr. Middleweight bout is sure to be for the bragging rights of Arkansas. The scintillating 5 bout card is filled out with three evenly matched affairs featuring 2008 Bahamian Olympian Taureano Johnson. Johnson is one of the hardest hitting prospects in boxing today and is just coming off a crushing 30 second stoppage of Ryan Bianchini in Memphis, TN.

The doors will open at 7:00 PM for this exciting night of boxing and the first bout will begin at 8:00 PM. Tickets are only $15 with a Harlow’s Players Card. This unbelievable night of boxing can be viewed live from beautiful Harlow’s Resort & Casino in Greenville, MS.

Submitted by – Fightnews.com
The last edition of 2005 in the “San Juan Boxing Nights” series takes place tonight at the Coliseo Pedrin Zorrilla in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In the headliner, lightweight contender Ivan Hernandez (22-1, 17 KO’s) makes his U.S. TV debut in his first fight outside Colombia against perenniel tough guy Ubaldo Hernandez (19-16-2, 10 KO’s). Telefutura will televise.

JD Meredith at ringside – MemphisBoxing.com Photos Now Online
Fight fans and were filled with excitement and food Saturday night in the Ballroom of Fitzgerald’s Casino, in Tunica, MS. There fight fans enjoyed complementary food as they watched six action packed fights. Ivan Hernandez, along with Lamont and Anthony Peterson, were a few of the faces in the near capacity crowd. undefeated prospect Adam Hubinger (169 lbs.) banged out an eight round unanimous decision over Billy Thompson (168 lbs.) in the super middleweight main event.

Round’s one through five were much the same. Fighting at close range Hubinger pressed the action and moved forward. Thompson consistently found himself, back against the ropes, trying to defend. As orders came in from his corner, Hubinger would act them out as requested. Hubinger mixed things up with his creative punching ability. One-two combinations followed by blazing uppercuts, were thrown with grace but no mercy. The left eye of Thompson was swelling from Hubinger’s assaults….continued

Submitted by Nate Yoder – Prize Fight Boxing
“Throw Down In M-Town” will showcase the return of former WBO Super Flyweight Champion Ivan “Choco” Hernandez 21-1-1 (16 KO’s) from Ensanada, MX. Ivan captured the WBO title with a knockout over Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson on September 25 at the FedExForum. “Throw Down In M-Town” is being offered for free to boxing fans. The show will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2’s Tuesday night fight series.

“This is sort of our way of saying thank you to the wonderful boxing fans of Memphis who supported us all these years…” – Brian Young

“We are making the lawn seating available free of charge so all can come enjoy this event. This is a wonderful way to showcase Memphis to over 80 million homes via television”, stated Brian Young of Prize Fight. The fight card will be riddled with 6 to 7 world caliber fights.

Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson (44-4, 28 KOs) entered the ring as the WBO champion and self proclaimed best 115-pound fighter in the world “bar none.” But, 21-year-old Ivan “Choko” Hernandez (19-0-1, 13 KOs) came to prove otherwise as he fought a courageous fight from the start.

Hernandez began the fight charging forward, stunning the champ with a straight right hand that staggered Johnson backward, immediately letting Johnson know this would be no easy fight.

“ I knew when I landed the first right hand that I could do it. I knew with my heart, my determination, that I could win the fight,” Hernandez later revealed strictly to Fightnews.

While Johnson pressed the action in the second and third rounds, Hernandez proved willing to stand toe-to-toe and trade power shots as the two traded arsenals of uppercuts, and hooks in close quarters. Hernandez continued to come forward through the fourth as he landed a shot to the chest that momentarily shook Johnson. Hernandez pressed forward again into the sixth round when Johnson took charge.

Johnson turned up the heat as his punches started landing on the young Hernandez in succession. Johnson landed a huge overhand right, followed by a left that wobbled Hernandez. Johnson then landed punch after punch, loading up on each shot. Looping overhand punches and uppercuts thundered across Hernandez’s skull as he held onto Johnson to end the sixth.

With the recover power of Holyfield in his prime, Hernandez charged forward to begin round seven as if unaffected by the round before. “I felt the punches hard in round six. I can take nothing away from Johnson. My heart said keep going.”

Hernandez then blasted Johnson with a straight right hand that immediately sat him on his rear. Johnson looked to his corner and smiled, up righting himself at the count of eight. Then Hernandez continued to apply pressure.

Relentless and pursuant of the champion, Hernandez continued unleashing punch after punch. Then Hernandez thundered a right uppercut to Johnson’s ribcage and down he went. Felled and on all fours, Johnson could not raise from the canvas for close to a minute as referee Armando Garcia counted him out a 2:42 of round eight, leaving Ivan “Choko” Hernandez the new WBO Junior Bantamwieght champion.

After the fight jubilant manager Jesse Mercado specifically sought out Fightnews for the prime story while also interpreting for the Spanish-speaking Hernandez. “He (Hernandez) is only 21 years old. This is just his 20th fight! He has a long career ahead of him!”

“ I can not believe it. Thank God. I have a solid team. The addition of Ronny Shield helped me find weak spots. Our plan was to pressure Mark,” Hernandez said. “Super flyweights are avoiding each other. We knew what we had. We knew we were ready to fight the best in the world. I was 51-5 in the amateurs and knew I could do it.”

While Mercado seeks to have his fighter unify the belts at 115 pounds, Hernandez would like to handle some unfinished business of his own via a match up with fellow Mexican fighter Fernando Montiel. “I would like to fight Montiel. Montiel said Johnson was fighting a nobody. What do you thing now Montiel? I have beaten the best fighter in the world,” Hernandez stated.

I would like to thank Jesse Mercado for the exclusive interview and wish him and his fighter the best.

D. Logan (7-1-1, 5 KO’s), tough to See that “O” go!

Last Saturday night, while most fight fans we’re just thinking about heading toward the FedEx Forum, the fights had already begun. One of those fights was the Darnell Logan (7-0-1, 5 KO’s) of Covington, TN, vs. Mario Lacey (5-7-3, 5 KO’s) from Mobile, AL. The bout began with both fighters trading shots in the center of the ring. Logan was able to get off good shots to the head and body but Lacey took them well.Towards the end of round 2 Lacey floored Logan with a hard right hook that landed flush to the head. Logan took his time getting off the canvas and when he finally gained his senses and lifted himself up, his legs were too wobbley and the referee called the fiight at 2:54 of round 2.

Montana wins rematch over Brown!

Former cruiserweight contender Saul Montana (41-12, 36 KOs) decisioned Gabe Brown (15-5-1, 9 KOs) in a heavyweight contest on Saturday at the FedExForum as part of the non-televised undercard in support of the Glen Johnson vs. Roy Jones Jr. showdown. Brown, whose weight exceeded the 350-pound limit of the scales on Friday, had no answer to the sticking and moving style of Montana. Montana (229) was able to stay on the outside and potshot the plodding, blubbery Brown at will throughout the fight. Brown got the crowd cheering for him in the third when he swayed his enormous hips in hula hip fashion at the advancing Montana. The cheering turned into laughter soon afterwards which was replaced by booing moments later. The sixth round was the only round that Brown showed any offensive initiative. Brown was able to briefly close the gap and go toe-to-toe with Montana during the sixth round but Montana retreated into ropes to escape the assault. Montana was hurt during the exchange but

Brown ran out of gas before he could capitalize. The nose of Brown was busted up by pecking jab of Montana during the middle rounds. Montana went on to win a unanimous ten-round decision. This fight was a rematch of their November 2003 affair in which both fighters were down in the opening round but it was Brown who TKO’ed Montana in the first round.

John Johnson Faces toughest opponent yet!

Undefeated light heavyweight John Johnson (6-0, 5 KOs) had a tougher time than anticipated in winning a decision over Martin Verdin (6-4, 3 KOs). Johnson, an outstanding amateur, was caught a few times by Verdin during the four round contest but Johnson was never in danger. A left hook sent Verdin crashing to the canvas midway into the first round. Verdin recovered but the southpaw Johnson kept the pressure on with thudding left hooks. Verdin suffered a nasty gash below his right eye during the third round and a vicious assault at the end of the round had Verdin hanging onto the ropes. Johnson won a unanimous decision with all of the judges’ scorecards reading 40-35.

Marvin Hunt (10-10, 3 KOs) gave away almost 40 pounds Saturday night to Ray Lunsford (16-4-1, 11 KOs), but that didn’t stop him from having his way all night. Hunt used his evasiveness and powerful left jab to control Lunsford throughout the fight.

Hunt began inflicting damage on Lunsford early on. By the end of the bout Lunsford’s countenance was red and swollen. His face and its expression told as much of the story as the judges scorecards. Hunt was in much better shape and was able to keep pressure all night; whereas, Lunsford appeared to tire early and fought gasping for breath most of the night.

Choko Soundly Defeats Davalos!

Brian Young must have been on cloud nine after signing the powerful Ann Wolfe to his stable of fighters and then watching his fighter flyweight Ivan Hernandez (16-0-1, 10 KOs). Hernandez continued to look extremely impressive with his sharp punching and high work level, easily outpointing an extremely game Arturo Davalos (9-10-1, 4 KOs) at Sams Town Casino in Tunica, MS Saturday night.

From the opening bell Hernandez took charge with his speed and accuracy. Throughout the early rounds Hernandez proved the aggressor, displaying ample punching power and accuracy with both hands. Booming lefts to Davalos ribcage and hammering right hooks to Davalos chin, Hernandez took charge early and seldom showed signs of letting up.

By the fifth and sixth rounds Hernandezs left hooks and uppercuts began finding their target on Davalos body. Then in round six Hernandez thundered a left hook to the skull followed by another to the body that immediately dropped Davalos. Davalos uprighted himself, clearly pained by the shot to the ribs. Hugging his right elbow tight to stove away further blows, Davalos valiantly continued to fight.

But, Hernandez closed the show with an eighth round that featured him firing numerous shotgun jabs to Davalos face. As the bell echoed the close of the bout, the crowd stood in standing ovation, a testament to Hernandezs display of skill and the shear will of Davalos to continue to fight.

Johnson Hammers Horn!

Norman Johnson (3-11-1) constantly slipped through the defenses of Nashville native Dana Horn (1-1, 1 KO) en route to a dominating victory. Horn began to get hit early on and a heavy right hand sent Horn on his back as his head slammed the canvas. Horn arose wobbly and performed his best Mickey Ward impersonation, raising his hands and plodding forward from sheer instinct and will.

Johnson would slip in again and send Horn to the floor once more in the third round. Horn never appeared to recover from his initial knockdown but valiantly continued to come forward looking to land his right hand to no avail.

Lana Alexander (2-3, 1 KO) took charge early over Tiffani Ibanez (1-1) by landing solid punches. Ibanez battled back at the end of round two and throughout round three, but Alexander stepped things up by finishing strong and earning a unanimous decision.

Hubinger Starts with A Bang!

Prize Fight Boxing introduced light heavyweight newcomer Adam Hubinger (1-0, 1 KO) as he debuted against journeyman TC James (5-17, 3 KOs). Hubinger began by landing a heavy right had that briefly stunned James. James continued by wildly swinging and exchanging in the center of the ring, head-butting Hubinger in the process. Hubinger chased James into the ropes, stunning him with a hard right hand that forced referee Paul Seda to perform a standing eight count.

Hubinger began round two with swelling budding over his right eye. But, during a storm of punches a heavy right hand blasted James into the ropes and down to the canvas. Hubinger then struck again with a left-right combo that paralyzed James as he fell limp into the ropes. Referee Paul Seda immediately waved the bout over at :43 into round two.

Browning Wins Again!

In a female super bantamweight bout, Samantha Browning (3-0, 2 KOs) continued her dominance with a TKO win over Marla Roberson (0-2). Browning dominated round one and Roberson never answered the bell for round two. Browning began her career with a win against Tonya Harding on the Tyson-Etienne undercard at the Pyramid last year.

Sam’s Town Casino has 6 bouts lined up for their January 24th “Fight Night” at the River Palace Entertainment Center. Doors open at 7:00pm.
Heavyweights Marvin Hunt and Ray Lundsford will take each other on in an 8 round rematch. Hunt was the victor in their first fight. For tickets call the Sam’s Town Entertainment Hotline, 1-800-456-0711.Tickets are $25 and $15. Fight card subject to change.